Sex offender pleads guilty to assaulting jogger

San Diego  A registered sex offender accused of attacking a woman on a jogging trail in Balboa Park pleaded guilty Tuesday to 16 felony and misdemeanor charges including assault with intent to commit rape.

David Thomas Blood, 51, was arrested in Aug. 11, shortly after the attack, which involved a 32-year-old woman. She told police that her attacker engaged her in conversation, then knocked her down, straddled her and threatened to cut her.

Blood was arrested near Park Boulevard and Upas Street after a short chase.

On Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court, Blood pleaded guilty to a string of charges including grand theft, burglary, making a criminal threat, diversion of construction funds, contracting without a license, and possession of a controlled substance.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 22.

Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said that on the day of the attack, Blood forced his way into a neighbor’s home and entered another woman’s home without permission. Between August 2008 and October 2009, he fraudulently presented himself as a contractor to three different victims, and charged for work he wasn’t doing.

In March and September of 2009, he entered two homes and made phone calls to 900 numbers without permission. In one of the homes, he purchased pay-per-view pornography, the prosecutor said.

Blood is listed on the state’s Megan’s Law database as a sex offender with convictions for assault with intent to commit rape and lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14.